#on authenticity

Language trips up on love, desire lacks articulacy...

Despite not really buying into authenticity as a valuable commodity in musicians, I’m interested to see the role it plays in the solo endeavours of One Direction during their hiatus. Time apart from a boyband (whether permanent or temporary) is typically a chance for individual members to show their true selves or rather ‘true selves’, in inverted commas — from Robbie Williams’ on-the-nose cover of George Michael’s Freedom, to Charlie from Busted’s po-faced ‘proper’ rock band Fightstar, solo projects are usually an excuse for boybanders to distance themselves from the group and present a more knowing, adult, cooler self. This can sometimes work well — like I say, I don’t care so much about authenticity — but sometimes it falls flat on its face: The reason I don’t like Zayn’s solo work is because his loverman persona is so unconvincing — I can’t help but see an awkward boy from Bradford, albeit a really hot one. We’ve yet to hear a single from Harry, but if his extensive photoshoot for Another Man magazine tells us anything, it’s that he’s more interesting when he’s presenting as himself, rather than a cutesy version of Mick Jagger. I think the reason I’m looking for authenticity in the work of One Direction members is because I’m rooting for them as interesting in their own right. Niall is superficially the least interesting member of 1D, but This Town feels inherently him — he’s not trying to be cool or sexy, he’s just doing the things he did in 1D, but by himself, and he’s doing them well. The signposts of authenticity are here — the acoustic guitar, the handwriting on the single cover — but the sentiment is genuine: lines like 'If the whole world was watching I’d still dance with you' are lovely and unselfconscious. My favourite One Direction songs are the most earnest, the most authentically emotional, and This Town is so earnest, and — I think — authentically emotional too. I always thought Harry was my favourite, but maybe I was a secret Niall fan all along? This Town: 8/10.

One, I’ve decided that I’ll risk being earnest. And I’m gonna err on that side and sometimes I’ll go over the line and be insufferable, but the world needs a little earnestness cause there’s a lot of cynicism and snarkiness. But secondly, the solution for a lot of us is what I call a galaxy of warm places. That every week you have a regular set of people you meet with where the dominant mode is not ideas and intellect - it’s emotion. I’ve come to believe that character is not built internally through an inner drama with self, though that’s part of it. It’s built externally, by making commitments to things: to a spouse or a family, to a philosophy or faith, to a community or to a vocation. And how well we choose those things and execute those things determines the fulfillment of our lives.

Real search for love is about embracing our most authentic self, sharing that true self with the precious people who know how to honor it, and learning to offer others the same in return.